15 Years of Jagadam: This Sukumar-Ram Pothineni collaboration has a separate fan base even today!

Despite the film being a commercial failure, it is well-remembered for its heart-pounding drama and stellar action sequences

Sukumar, Ram Pothineni

A commercial failure of a film only indicates its business at the box office and need not always be the only parameter to judge the quality of a product. Jagadam, director Sukumar's second film after Arya, released amid a lot of expectations and took the audiences that it catered to, on a rollercoaster ride. The moderate response at the ticket window isn't at all an indicator of the love that the film has gone onto receive over the years. Ram Pothineni, Isha Sahani played the lead roles in the film that released exactly today, 15 years ago.

Jagadam is best remembered for the terrific characterisation of the male lead, its evolution with time and the swashbuckling action sequences that had even wowed the likes of SS Rajamouli back then. A young Ram Pothineni, in only his second film, did complete justice to the portrayal of Macha Srinivas a.k.a Seenu. As the aimless youngster who gets entagled in a war with local goons, he performed with a lot of composure and never let his inexperience affect the performance anytime.

"Ram was just a 17-year-old kid and was working on his second film with me. He never told 'no' for anything I asked. Whenever I asked him for anything, he would practice it for about 10 minutes and deliver it exactly as per my expectations. He is always a sharp brilliant actor. Whenever I saw Ram on sets, he looked like a wonder boy to me. I could foresee that he would make it big in the industry. He has proved himself to everyone today," director Sukumar said, looking back at the film.

Another aspect that audiences remember quite fondly for, is the music by Devi Sri Prasad. The film was shot in the Super 35 format, was technically ahead of its items and Jagadam's DVD was apparently purchased by many Hindi film directors later. Many fans of Sukumar and Ram Pothineni are waiting for their next collaboration with bated breath. Sukumar, in fact, is keen on remaking Jagadam and whenever he collaborates with Ram, he hopes to go a step beyond audience's expectations.

With Sukumar becoming a known name in Bollywood with Pushpa and Ram Pothineni's poularity with his Hindi-dubbed movies in the North India, one can expect a cracker of a movie whenever they team up next."I want to work with Ram again. I'll do a film with film very soon. I want to remake Jagadam with the current-day Ram Pothineni and I want to see him in that role all over again," Sukumar said. Ram is next working on a pan-Indian film with Boyapati Srinu while Sukumar has has calendar full with Pushpa The Rule, films with Vijay Deverakonda and Chiranjeevi.

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